Council dispose of 600 mattresses

During a recent waste amnesty, over 600 mattresses were collected and disposed of by Waterford Council.

A spokesperson said this week that the Council were “overwhelmed” due to the large number of mattresses received, and future amnesties will now be planned differently to prevent a “free-for-all.”

The matter was discussed this week during a meeting of councillors and senior council executives.

Cllr Declan Clune raised the issue, saying Tipperary County Council are very proactive when it comes to implementing anti-dumping measures across their county.

He asked Council staff locally whether Waterford have any plans to implement a mattress amnesty or to periodically place large skips in rural areas to help reduce illegal dumping.

Cllr Liam Brazil agreed with the suggestion, saying mattress amnesties in the past have been successful in Waterford.

“It’s a vital thing to have in rural areas. Dumping is a continuous problem in the Comeragh district” he said.

Dawn Wallace, Senior Executive Officer with the Council's Environment Department, said the council have no plans to place large skips in rural Waterford areas.

She said such initiatives make “absolutely no difference to illegal dumping.” 

“The people availing of that service are people like you or I, who would ordinarily take our rubbish to the tip anyway. What it means is we are funding the general public to get rid of their waste that they would ordinarily pay to dispose of.” 

Ms. Wallace did say however that a mattress amnesty will take place this year.

“It won’t be a free-for-all like last time when we collected 600 mattresses. That was a substantial cost to dispose of those.

“The plan this time is to have two particular days where people can book to dispose of a limited number of mattresses into our Civic Amenity sites.” 

(Funded by the Local Democracy Scheme)